languagetool-org/languagetool · error · BadRequestException

You cannot specify disabled rules or categories using enable

Error message

You cannot specify disabled rules or categories using enabledOnly=true

What it means

When enabledOnly=true is used, the check should be restricted exclusively to explicitly enabled rules/categories. Supplying disabledRules or disabledCategories alongside enabledOnly is contradictory, so checkText throws BadRequestException and logs an INVALID_REQUEST metric.

Source

Thrown at languagetool-server/src/main/java/org/languagetool/server/TextChecker.java:563

    List<String> disabledRules = getDisabledRuleIds(params);
    List<CategoryId> enabledCategories = getCategoryIds("enabledCategories", params);
    List<CategoryId> disabledCategories = getCategoryIds("disabledCategories", params);


    if (shouldRunRestrictedRulesTest(params, agent, lang, abTest)) {
      log.info("Running test with restricted rules for user: {}, language: {}, client: {}",
        params.getOrDefault("username", ""), lang.getShortCodeWithCountryAndVariant(), agent);
      useEnabledOnly = true;
      enabledRules = onlyTestRules;
      // need to clear these settings, leads to conflict with useEnabledOnly otherwise
      disabledRules = Collections.emptyList();
      disabledCategories = Collections.emptyList();
    }


    if ((disabledRules.size() > 0 || disabledCategories.size() > 0) && useEnabledOnly) {
      ServerMetricsCollector.getInstance().logRequestError(ServerMetricsCollector.RequestErrorType.INVALID_REQUEST);
      throw new BadRequestException("You cannot specify disabled rules or categories using enabledOnly=true");
    }
    if (enabledRules.isEmpty() && enabledCategories.isEmpty() && useEnabledOnly) {
      ServerMetricsCollector.getInstance().logRequestError(ServerMetricsCollector.RequestErrorType.INVALID_REQUEST);
      throw new BadRequestException("You must specify enabled rules or categories when using enabledOnly=true");
    }

    boolean enableTempOffRules = "true".equals(params.get("enableTempOffRules"));
    boolean useQuerySettings = enabledRules.size() > 0 || disabledRules.size() > 0 ||
            enabledCategories.size() > 0 || disabledCategories.size() > 0 || enableTempOffRules;
    boolean allowIncompleteResults = "true".equals(params.get("allowIncompleteResults"));
    JLanguageTool.Mode mode = ServerTools.getMode(params);
    JLanguageTool.Level level = ServerTools.getLevel(params);
    String[] toneTagNames = params.get("toneTags") != null ? params.get("toneTags").split(",") : null;
    Set<ToneTag> toneTags = new HashSet<>(ToneTag.values().length);
    if (toneTagNames != null) {
      if (toneTagNames.length == 1 && toneTagNames[0].isEmpty()) { //&toneTags=
        toneTags.add(ToneTag.ALL_WITHOUT_GOAL_SPECIFIC);
      } else {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2e990059ce)

Solutions

1. Remove disabledRules/disabledCategories from the request when using enabledOnly=true
2. Encode everything you want to exclude by omitting it from the enabledRules/enabledCategories lists instead of disabling it
3. In client code, drop or ignore disable-lists when the enabledOnly option is set

Example fix

// before
curl -d text=... -d language=en-US -d enabledOnly=true -d disabledRules=WHITESPACE_RULE http://server/v2/check
// after
curl -d text=... -d language=en-US -d enabledOnly=true -d enabledRules=... http://server/v2/check

if (params.enabledOnly && ((params.disabledRules?.length) || (params.disabledCategories?.length))) {
  delete params.disabledRules;
  delete params.disabledCategories;
}

When it happens

Trigger: POSTing to /v2/check with enabledOnly=true AND a non-empty disabledRules or disabledCategories parameter (both lists populated, e.g. disabledRules=WHITESPACE_RULE&enabledOnly=true).

Common situations: Client config layers that always send a disabled-rules list (from user preferences) while another layer turns on enabledOnly mode; merging request defaults with user options without checking for conflicts.

Related errors

• You can specify 'noopLanguages' only when also using 'langua
• You must specify enabled rules or categories when using enab
• Missing 'text' or 'data' parameter
• 'language' parameter missing
• Set only 'text' or 'data' parameter, not both

AI-assisted analysis of languagetool-org/languagetool@2e990059ce (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2a31bd1bed907c2f. Report an issue: GitHub.